The importance of experience and education in the career decision-making process has been greatly under-estimated in our schools and society. Skills needed for this process of obtaining and identifying useful information for judging suitability and selection from two or more possible career choices have not been acquired by the majority of school leavers. The elements of career awareness and career explorations have received attention in many education settings, but the elements of decision-making skills and the relationship of these skills to self-awareness have not been pursued. Little opportunity exists for coordination of these elements or for follow-up activities that include "hands-on" self-exploration and competency building experiences.
Most job seekers, including the school leavers, are expected to make career choices in a very complex technological environment with a diversity of occupations. Frequently, occupational choice is made passively, without the assistance of quality input which includes futuristic occupational information, opportunity to rank alternatives, and having an understanding of the self in a functioning role related to the world of work. Without assistance in this process, options are closed out without adequate consideration of all the occupational choice determinants, particularly opportunities to explore job competencies through skill-building activities. Evidence shows that dispersal of vocational information alone is not adequate to aid career decision-making. Job seekers have the need to learn how to make tentative and flexible career choices within a systematic framework. They need to identify and experience what is important to them in order to make satisfying life and career choices. Making a career choice is one of the most significant acts in a person's life and requires much more than a theoretical base from which to initiate an action plan toward a self-fulfilling and productive life.